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Prescription for the Soul -Sculpture by Wang Xinggang

Exhibition details

Opening / Event Date:
29 September, 2016
Time:
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Closing / End Date:
12 October, 2016
Event Category:

29th September – 12th October 2016

Yan Gallery
 G/F, Shop 5, Chinachem Hollywood Centre
1 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong
Tel: 2139 2345  Fax: 2139 2342
Email: [email protected]  Website: www.yangallery.com
 
Opening Hours: Mon – Sat 10:30 – 18:30 Sun: 15:00 – 18:00

 

Yan Gallery is pleased to announce a new exhibition of works by the mainland Chinese artist Wang Xinggang entitled ‘Prescription for the Soul’.  This exhibition comprises around 20 pieces of sculpture made from a combination of acrylic and wood.

Wang Xinggang’s art is concerned with the effects of the rapid modernization of China on the daily lives of its citizens.  The artist says ‘Man’s greatest problems arise from the heart, only when man is in harmony can society achieve harmony, and only then can that harmony extend to environment and society as a whole.’  Over the past few decades China has seen an enormous change due to developments in market economy and modernization.  The lives of millions of people have been affected by these changes and Wang Xinggang has been tracing these developments in his art.

Wang Xinggang’s art deals with the anxieties and apprehensions of a society ill at ease with its new environment.  People who once lived a peaceful, slow paced, rural existence are now thrust into a fast moving, hectic metropolitan life that they are ill-equipped to deal with.  Wang Xinggang looks at the lives of those affected by these changes and through his work poses questions to the viewer; Who am I?  Where have I come from?  What am I living for?

Wang Xinggang works in various media, such as bronze, stainless steel and resin, however for this collection of works he put a lot of thought into his material, eventually settling for acrylic and wood. Not only do these materials contrast well with each other and give tension to his works, but they also symbolize the old and new values of China.  Using high quality beautifully polished rosewood Wang makes reference to the ancient agricultural civilization of China and with the acrylic he draws our attention to the modern industrialization of China.  Clear and opaque, old and new, heavy and light –these elements combined make these sculptures very attractive and pleasing to the eye.

Wang also adds a surreal twist to his sculptures; within the human form he has added drawers, which, similar to a Chinese medicine chest, can be pulled out or left closed. However, instead of containing herbs to cure us of our maladies, the drawers in the sculpture are all empty.  What does this mean?  Is this a reference to the meaning of life?  Are our lives empty like these drawers?  Or is it a sign for us to look for some other spiritual enlightenment to make us happy again?

Wang’s works are not only pleasing to look at, but also give rise to serious thought on modern society as a whole.  They are also very tactile and encourage us to want to touch them.  The smoothness of both the acrylic and the wood has a unifying effect and lets us appreciate the exquisite craftsmanship of the artist.  Beauty and thoughtfulness make these sculptures highly desirable and interesting works of art.

Wang Xinggang was born in 1971 in Liaoning Province.  He graduated in 1997 from the Sculpture Department of Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in Liaoning Province.  He went on to do a MFA at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia and now divides his time between teaching at Capital Normal University in Beijing and working as a full time artist.

A catalogue of the artist’s work will be available at the opening night and the artist will attend.  For any further inquiries, please contact the gallery.

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“…We are always trying to understand each other, but sometimes when we open all the ‘Drawers’, we find that we still haven’t found what we are looking for. This is normal feedback for the average person. This person represents the accumulation of his past experiences, memories, and emotions. All of these have been stored in the drawers, which can either hold a lot or a little depending on one’s degree of enlightenment. Some people let go of the things they should let go of and we find that the drawer is empty. Empty and non-empty are the same, existence and non-existence are not opposites.”

——Artist Wang Xinggang

 

“Prescription lends itself to discussion in terms of positive and negative, as the series is inherently comprised of positive and negative elements. In this series, he has sculpted the forms of a worker, farmer, businessman, scholar, soldier and an official, each of which has carved in it empty drawers which can be pulled out. It is precisely the space in these drawers that creates the negative in these sculptures. Such treatment of space is quite uncommon in contemporary sculpture. What do the empty drawers imply? Why has he carved out drawers in the human body rather than something else? And given that he has taken the effort to sculpt out the drawers, why doesn’t he put anything inside? I believe that anyone looking at Wang Xinggang’s works will have a myriad of questions to ask. Wang Xinggang’s works not only invite the viewer to observe visually, but also to contemplate, and it is this visual observation combined with contemplation that in turn cleverly create yet another form of positive and negative.”

——Peng Feng “Positive and Negative – On the Prescription series by Wang Xinggang”

 

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